Automatic time-switch.



PATENTED JULY 2, 1907.

H. H. CHURCHILL.

AUTOMATIC TIME SWITCH.

APPLICATION FILED P3127, 1906.

2 SHEETS-BEBE! 1.

T [NVE/VTOR W1 TNESSES UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HERBERT H. CHURCHILL, OF PUEBLO, COLORADO, ASSIGNOR OF THREE-EIGHTI-IS TO EARNEST E. CHURCHILL AND TWO-EIGHTHS TO HARRY P. VORIES, BOTH OF PUEBLO,

COLORADO.

AUTOMATIC TIME-SWITCH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 2, 1907.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERBERT H. CHURCHILL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pueblo, in the county of Pueblo and State of Colorado, have invented new and useful Improvements in Automatic Time- Switches, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to automatic time switches, the object of the invention being to provide an apparatus whereby, for example, electric lights may be turned on at a predetermined hour and again turned off at a fixed time without requiring the presence of an attendant, the apparatus being entirely automatic after it is once set.

The apparatus is applicable to any clock of ordinary construction and is especially designed for use in connection with an eight day movement.

The arrangement is such that the switch will be thrown, for example, during the evening or night hours and will not be operated during the day time. In other words, if the apparatus is set to turn on the electric lights at, say seven oclock in the'evening, and turn off the same at twelve oclock midnight, the corresponding hours in the day time will be skipped without operating the switch. The invention is useful in turning on or off lights in storerooms, windows or signs at a predetermined time, and may be associated with the striking movement of any clock mechanism. The apparatus may also be used in connection with an electrically wound clock.

With the above and other objects in view, the nature of which will more fully appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts, hereinafter more fully described, illustrated and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of the apparatus complete, partly broken away and showing the mechanism just after it is tripped. Fig. 2 is a similar view, showing the mechanism locked and the switch closed. Fig. 3 is a face view of the dial arrangement. Fig. 4 is a detail elevation of the tripping mechanism, showing the shipper in dotted lines. Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of the shipper looking toward the rear face thereof. Fig. 6 is a vertical section through the actuating and tripping mechanism of the crank which throws the switch.

Referring to the drawings, 1 designates the frame of an ordinary eight-day clock movement; 2, the arbor which carries the hands; 3, the main wheel of the striking movement; and 4, the striking period cam.

5 designates the trigger, the free extremity 6 of which is bent to extend through the dial, passing through a slot 7 therein so as to be engaged by the tripping device hereinafter described. The trigger I extends from a rock-shaft 8 which carries an arm 9 that comes in contact with another arm 10 projecting from a counter rock-shaft 11 having an arm 12 which engages a notch in the cam 4 and provided with another arm 13, the end of which is bent to form a pawl 14 adapted to engage in oppositely arranged notches 15 in the periphery of the main wheel 3 of the striking movement. Thus, when the trigger 5 is tripped, the pawl 14 is moved out of engagement with the wheel 3, allowing the latter to be rotated by the main spring of the striking movement in the ordinary manner well understood by those familiar with the art to which this invention appertains.

The mechanism for tripping the trigger 5 consists of a toothed .wheel 16 mounted on an. arbor 1'7 and having its front face graduated, as shown at 18, and set flush within the main dial 19, as shown in Fig. 3. Thewheel 16 has twice as many teeth as the pinion 20 which is mounted on the arbor 2. The pinion 20 makes one complete revolution every twelve hours and, therefore, the wheel 16 makes but one revolution in every twenty-four hours. Mounted on the arbor 17 are trip hands 21 and 22 which are held friction-tight against the forward face of the wheel 16, enabling said hands to be adjusted to any hour indicated on the small dial but holding them tightly enough to adapt them to operate upon the extremity 6 of the trigger 5 to shift said trigger and unlock the striking movement. Each of the hands 21 and 22 is provided with a bent extremity, as shown at 23, adapted to come in contact with the extremity 6 of the trigger. By means of the graduations 18, the hands 21 and' 22 may be set to operate at any predetermined hour so that one of the hands will first trip the trigger to throw the switch on and the succeeding hand will trip the trigger to throw the switch off, in the manner hereinafter fully described.

The main wheel 3 carries a shipper actuating pin 24 projecting forward therefrom and adapted to come in contact with lugs or shoulders 25 and 26 on a shipper 27 consisting of a plate movable up and down in front of the main wheel 3 and guided by means of the arbor 28 of the wheel 3 and one of the pillars 29 of the clock frame 1, the said shipper being provided with slots 30 extending longitudinally thereof to embrace the elements 28 and 29, thus providing for the endwise movement of the shipper 27 as the pin 24 comes in contact with one or the other of the lugs or shoulders 25 and 26 on the rear face of said shipper.

Arranged beneath the clock mechanism is a housing consisting of front and rear plates 31 and 32 respectively, shown secured to a base block 3 firmly attached to the clock frame.

34 represents a winding arbor which is journaled in the frame plates 31 and 32, as shown in Fig. 6, which.

arbor has secured thereto one end of a winding spring 35, said spring encircling the arbor 34 and being arranged between the plates 31 and 32 and having its opposite end iirmly secured to one or both of said plates, as shown at 36. On the forward projecting end of the arbor 34 is placed a crank 37. This crank is loose on the arbor but connected therewith by means of a spring-pressed pawl 38 which engages a ratchet wheel 39 fast on the arbor 34, the arrangement being such that the tension of the spring, in unwinding, imparts movement to the crank 37, causing the latter to swing around the axis of the arbor 34.

Connected with the shipper 27 at the point 40 is a crank trip 41 forming a stopping and releasing device for the crank 37. This crank trip 41 preferably has a pivotal connection with the shipper 27, as shown at 40, and is provided with a slot 42 to enable it to pass over the winding arbor 34, as shown in Fig. 2, said trip 41 being movable up and down between guides 43 secured to the front plate 31. The trip 41 is also provided with stop lugs or shoulders 44 and 45, arranged at opposite sides of the arbor 34, by means of which the crank 37 is held against movement. The upper and lower stop lugs or shoulders 44 and 45 are so located that one or the other of said shoulders will be located in the path of the swinging crank 37. By reference to Fig. 2, it will be seen that the lower shoulder 45 is holding the crank 37, and it will also be seen that when the trip 41 is moved downward by the mechanism hereinabove described, said lower stop shoulder or lug 45 will be moved downward beyond the end of the crank 37 which releases said crank and allows it to swing through a half circle until it comes in contact with the upper stop lug 44 which, in the downward movement of the trip 41, has reached a point where it is in the path of the swinging crank 37. The stop shoulder 44 will thus hold the crank against lurther movement until the trip 41 again moves upward, when the operation just described will be repeated, the stop 44 releasing the crank and the stop 45 catching it after it is moved through a half circle.

The switch shown at 46 may be of any usual or preferred construction, an ordinary knife switch begin shown. The arm or lever 47 of such switch is connected at 48 to a link 49, the opposite end of which is connected to a crank pin 50 on the free end of the swinging crank 37.

It will now be apparent that when the trip 41 is moved a suflicient distance in either direction to release the crank 37, the spring 35 will throw the crank 37 quickly through a half revolution, imparting a corresponding rapid movement to the switch lever 47 through the medium of the connecting link 49, the rapidity of said movement overcoming the tendency oi the switch to spark. The link 49 is shown as provided with a winding aperture 51, so that when said link is in its upper position, as shown in Fig. 1, it will not interfere with the winding of the arbor 34 by means of an ordinary key.

I claim:

1. An automatic time switch. com n'ising a time piece, a switch, a crank under constant stress tending to actuate the switch, setting mechanism actuated by said time pi striking mechanism, a shipper, a. shipper actuating pin carried by the main wheel 01. the striking movement, and a sliding crank trip connected with said shipper for tripping the switch actuating device.

2, An automatic time switch comprising a time piece, an electric switch, a crank under constant stress for throwing said switch, striking mechanism, a shipper actuated by the striking movement, and a sliding crank trip actuated by the shipper and provided with oppositely disposed stop shoulders tor stopping and releasing the crank and permitting the same to swing through part 01' a circle when released.

3. An automatic time switch comprising a time piece, switch throwing mechanism embodying a crank under constant stress for throwing the switch, a shipper having :1 stop shoulder, a shipper actuating pin carried by the striking movement and adapted to cooperate with said shoulder on the shipper, and a crank trip actuated by the shipper and provided with stop lugs adapted to be moved by the trip into and out of the path of said crank.

4. An automatic switch comprising a time piece, an electric switch, means embodying a crank under ceustant stress tending to actuate the same and throw the switch, a reciprocatory shipper provided with a plurality of shoulders, a shipper actuating pin carried by an element of the striking mechanism and adapted to cooperate with the shoulders 01: the shipper, and a sliding trip connected with the shipper and provided with a plurality of stop shoulders movable into and out of the path 01' said crank.

5. An automatic time switch comprising a time piece, an electric switch, switch throwing mechanism embodying a crank under constant stress tending to actuate the same, a link connecting said crank with the switch, a pin carried by an element of the striking movement, a shipper having a sliding engagement with the time piece and provided with one or more lugs with which the said pin co operates, and a sliding crank trip having pivotal connection with the shipper and provided with a plurality of stop shoulders adapted to move into and out of the path of said crank for stopping and releasing the same, sub stantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I atlix my signature in presence 01' two witnesses.-

HERBERT I'I. CHURCHILL.

Witnesses J. G. VORIES, A. E. DAWSON. 

